


Help Me Lose My Mind

by RainCloud10



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Idols, Animals, Bickering, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, Idol Oikawa Tooru, M/M, Social Media, Teasing, lots of tweets, manager Yaku Morisuke, manager ushijima Wakatoshi, oikawa has a dog, semi mutual pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-20
Updated: 2019-02-20
Packaged: 2019-11-01 09:36:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17864906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RainCloud10/pseuds/RainCloud10
Summary: Oikawa and Kuroo are partnered up to host a Valentines event. In order to write a song together, Oikawa is ordered by his manager to room with Kuroo but every thing Kuroo does gets in Oikawa's nerves. He's so annoying..but so cute





	Help Me Lose My Mind

**Author's Note:**

  * For [crackpairingprincess](https://archiveofourown.org/users/crackpairingprincess/gifts).



> Happy late Valentines day Liza! sorry it's late, no internet makes it hard to post, but I hop the art makes up for it! (made by me)

The names Oikawa Tooru and Kuroo Tetsurou are pretty famous all over Japan, and even in some foreign countries. After all, they are the names of Japan's two most popular solo teen idols, who are soon to be partners according to a press conference being held this morning. On the TV of nearly everyone in Japan, Ushijima Wakatoshi, manager of Oikawa Tooru, states,

“This is something Yaku Morisuke and I have been talking about for a while now. We’ve decided to bring our clients together for a music video collaboration of Japan’s most beloved male teen idols. I hope you all continue to support us on this new path.”

Tooru scoffs at the TV in his dorm living room. “I can’t believe this Makki! He would go behind my back and set me up with the most annoying guy ever. Well, second. But still!”

“Relax man, it’s for one event, you can handle it. You’re ‘The Great Oikawa Tooru or Whatever.’” Hanamaki ‘Makki’ Takahiro runs a hand through his hair short strawberry blond hair as he lounges on his friends couch. Tooru nods to himself, listening to his friend as he paces the room.

“Yeah you’re right, I’m ‘The Great Oikawa Tooru or whatev’-hey!” Hanamaki lets out a hearty laugh and Tooru leaps over to grab a couch pillow and throw it in his face.

“Oi! Pay attention to the TV, you’re gonna need to know all this!” Hanamaki defends, blocking the pillow coming at him with his arms. Tooru pouts, moving to sit down on the couch, but since Hanamaki is laying down, he sits on his legs. He stares at him.

“Dude. Ow.”

“You deserve this,” is all Tooru says and turns his attention back to the conference, listening to reporters ask questions about the whole ordeal. Questions he could be answering himself, if he was even aware the event was being held at all.

The two teens watch the rest of the program, with some light teasing in between until they decide they’re hungry. Tooru heaves himself into the little kitchen, Makki not following-”Tooru you broke my legs by sitting on them”-and quickly makes them some rice and fried eggs. After their shared meal, Hanamaki makes his way out of the dorm, promising to come over and bug Tooru soon. Only a few minutes after leaving, is there a knock on his door.

“Ne~ Makki, did you forget something?” Tooru opens up the door to his manager. “Oh, Ushiwaka, come in.” He fails to keep the bitterness out of his voice.

His manager bows and steps in, slipping off his shoes and sliding into an extra pair of house slippers. Tooru closes the door behind him and makes his way to the kitchen, on his way to make some tea. Ushijima-san meets him there moments later.

“Now I’m sure you saw the conference and I should’ve warned you about it,” He begins as he takes a seat at the small table, and Tooru huffs in agreement. “but I believe this will be good for your career.”

“What, offering me to another agency for a month and a half?” Tooru takes out two clean mugs and sets up the kettle. His manager sighs.

“I didn’t ‘offer you to another agency’ Tooru. I discussed with Yaku-san and felt it was best we do it in secret because we know you two.”

“If you know us so well why did you do it? You could have offered me away to someone else!”

“Again, Tooru, I didn’t offer you away to anyone.”

“It feels like you did!” The kettle screams with Tooru. He growls and turns on it, grabbing the handle too roughly. The boiling water sloshes out from the force and onto Tooru’s hand.

“Shit! Fuck-Ah! This is your fault!” Tooru bristles, holding his burning hand to his chest, eyes squeezing shut in pain. Fuck fuck fuck, shit, piece of shit kettle.

“You don’t mean that.” He feels his manager move him over, his hand being taken out of his grasp, and suddenly there’s cool relief on his burn. He feels his anger flow out of him like the cool water now dripping down his hand. He blinks his eyes open and tugs his hand out of the water, his manager handing him a towel.

“Thanks.” he mumbles and quickly pats his hand dry. He turns his flamboyant personality back on in an instant and turns up to his manager.

“Since I’m not in danger of harming myself anymore, got any more bad news?” His manager frowns. “Actually yes. You’re going to be living with Tetsurou-kun in his agency to get familiar with each other so you can come up with a song together.”

“I was joking!” Tooru gawks, to which his manager replies, “I wasn’t. I need you to start packing your things tonight, you leave in two days.”

 

\-----------------------------

 

Thankfully, packing doesn’t take too long, and soon enough, one-Tooru- might argue too soon, he’s standing outside of Kuroo Tetsurou’s dorm, already exhausted. Kuroo stands in the entrance, with that stupid grin of his that everyone thinks is so attractive. Ugh, how annoying. In retaliation Tooru plasters on one of his many smiles and plays pretend in front of his new partner.

 

“Ushijima-san, Tooru-kun, please come in!” He welcomes them with a bow.

The dorm looks the same as Tooru’s old one, albeit a bit bigger. There's a living area, kitchenette, and a hallway most likely leading to the bedrooms and bathroom. Inside the kitchenette Kuroo’s manager, Yaku-san, is sitting with a mug of tea in his hands. They catch eyes and Tooru smiles brightly for him.

Kuroo leads them to the kitchen table, and Yaku-san stands up to greet them.

“Thank you for doing this, I know its a lot to ask, but we both appreciate it very much.” Yaku bows, looks over to see Kuroo not bowing and gives him a look. Tooru holds in a chuckle and bows back, to hide his face.

“It’s no trouble at all, Tetsu-chan, Yaku-san!”

“Aww, see Yakkun, a nickname right off the bat! I knew we would get along.” Tooru gives him a tight smile. It’s true he give out nicknames, but that doesn’t mean he can’t do it out of malice.

“Oh I just usually give everyone nicknames, isn’t that right, Ushiwaka?” The taller manager looks off to the side. “Unfortunately.”

“But wait, you didn’t give Yakkun one?”

“Yeah, well I respect Yaku-san.” A loud laugh bubbles out of the smaller manager.

“Tetsurou, why can’t you be more like Tooru-kun?” Kuroo blanches and this time Tooru lets himself laugh. It’s so easy to pick on Tetsu-chan, isn’t it.

The four talk business for the next hour; release date, practice schedules that needed to be rearranged, and interviews what would follow up the move.

“I expect the two of you be on your best behavior,” Ushijima-san looks pointedly at Tooru before continuing, “It’s in both of your best interests to make this work.”

The two idols nod their compliance and see the managers out the door. As soon as it shuts, Kuroo speaks up.

“How’d you burn your hand?” He nods his head at the white raised skin on Tooru’s thumb.

“None of your business.” Tooru turns away from him, heading to his new room. The movers had so graciously put his things in his room for him, saving him the trouble.

“It’s probably really embarrassing if you don't want to tell me how it happened. I bet you did it on your hair curler.” Kuroo follows him. He rolls his eyes and looks over his shoulder at the other as he reaches his door.

“How would I even do that?”

“You’d find a way.” Kuroo shrugs teasingly and Tooru glares at him.

“Tetsu-chan!"

“That my name.” He smirks back.

“You’re impossible.” Tooru mutters and quickly enters his room, shutting the door behind him, cutting off Kuroo’s obnoxious laughter.

Eventually Tooru has to come out sooner or later. After a few hours of unpacking, he starts to get hungry. Just when he’s about to open the door, there’s a knock. Tooru opens it with a wide smile.

“What can I do for you, Tetsu-chan?”

“It’s getting pretty late, I don’t know if you’ve eaten yet I wanted to know because I was thinking about getting a pizza or something?”

“Oh.” he says a little shocked. “Only if you’re paying.” he smiles slyly.

“I wouldn’t offer only to make you pay.”

“Perfect.” Tooru purrs.

After Kuroo orders their food, the two settle onto the couch to look for something to watch in the meantime. When they don’t find anything that interests them, Kuroo turns the volume down and faces Tooru.

“So, why did you choose to be an idol?” Tooru raises an eyebrow, obviously not expecting that kind of question, or any question for that matter.

“Why are you asking?”

“Well I mean we’re going to be around each other for the next couple’a weeks. What better time than now to get to know each other. So,” Kuroo smiles at him. “why did you become an idol?”

Tooru sighs and looks away. God they were really going there huh? He always hated this question. “Because I’m good at it.”

Kuroo looks at him with a look not entirely shock, but not all belief either. “That’s not what you tell interviewers.”

“If you’ve seen my interviews already, why are you asking me now?” He was getting a little irritated. What kind of truth was he looking for?

“Hey if you don’t want to answer, you don’t have to. I’m sorry for pushing.” Kuroo backs off easily.

Tooru peaks at him from the corner of his eye, and sees Kuroo’s watching him. Noticing he’s been caught, the other smiles his way. That really pisses him off. He doesn't make a good rival if he can't even play along. This isn’t going to be any fun.

“My mom.” He leans his head back to rest on the back of the couch, hands laced in his lap. “She wanted me to get into something in junior high after we moved so she signed me up for voice lessons. I thought that singing was fun, so when my school put in a talent show, I asked my new friends to do something with me. We thought it would be funny to dress up as our favorite girl group and cover them. We had the dance down and everything. We practiced for weeks. Apparently someone put up the performance online and it went viral. A week later, someone representing White Eagles called my house and asked to sponsor me. I agreed because it was something I knew I was good at. The rest is history”

“So it wasn’t like, a childhood dream then?” Tooru shakes his head. “Wow, I really thought you would’ve been one of those starry-eyed kids who went around telling everyone in their town they’re gonna be an idol.” Tooru chuckles, and looks over at his partner, smirking.

“No, that was probably you. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. I probably would’ve done sports or something. What about you?”

“Me? Oh, ah well, that actually was me. I was the kid who watched all the live performances of idols I could find. I was so enchanted by them. Told all the old ladies at the markets that I was gonna be an idol.”

“That must’ve been annoying for them.” Tooru looks away to hide the smirk on his face.

“You son of a bitch, I was a cute kid.” He feels the others foot on him, and his thigh gets shoved.

“Yeah was. What happened?” He laments.

“I got beautiful.” Tooru snorts and when Kuroo’s phone starts to ring, he looks at him curiously. _Wait a minute…_

“Is that my song?”

“Kuroo Tetsurou speaking.” Kuroo answers the phone, ignoring Tooru.

Tooru gives him a smug face, pulling out his own phone to check his notifications.

“We gotta go pick it up at the front office, you coming?”

“I’ll sit this one out thanks.” He smiles brightly at Kuroo, who rolls his eyes and moves to grab his wallet.

“Be good while I’m gone!” He calls out before he leaves.

“Whatever!” He calls back and suddenly it’s quiet. _Perfect opportunity to update twitter_.

Pulling up the camera function, he moves to stand at the door of the dorm, and angles his phone to get a wide shot. “Perfect! Now caption….”

Tooru sticks out his tongue as he types, showing off his new living space.

 

\------------

**Prince Idol @RoyallyTooru**

My new hang out for the next bunch of weeks!

 

\------------

 

He smiles to himself as he heads to his room to dig around for his movies. Enjoying his free pizza and a good thriller sounds like a great way to spend his night.

By the time he picks one out, Kuroo returns so he emerges from his room and hastily makes his way to the kitchen.

“Thanks for the pizza!” he says quickly grabbing a few slices.

“Hey,” Kuroo calls out, stopping Tooru in his tracks.

“It isn’t completely free. You gotta hang out with me. Ya’know, watch a movie or play a game?”

Tooru slowly turns around and places a hand on his hip. “What kind of games?”

“I got Mario Kart?” Kuroo shrugs. Tooru smirks.

“I’m going to destroy you.”

\-----------------------------

 

Living with Kuroo is as horrible as he had originally thought. Pizza night was just the calm before the storm.

“Tetsu-chan can you take out the trash?” Tooru calls from the kitchen to his companion who’s lazing on the couch.

“I would, but I don’t think he likes me that way.” Tooru feels his eye twitch, pausing washing the dishes.

“It must be hard, hating yourself.”

“You would know.” Kuroo back.

“Why would I know? I have nothing to hate myself for.” Tooru tosses his hair though no one is there. Kuroo mumbles something that makes his blood boil.

“I-I’m sorry Tetsu-chan, would you say that just a bit louder? It’s hard to hear you over the douchery in here.”

“No worries!” He hears rustling and suddenly Kuroo is in the kitchen with him.

He leans in and whispers, “Hanger Tooru.”

Images of Kuroo sitting on a couch with his arm around a hanger that has his face taped to it flash in his mind. Tooru whirls on him.

“YOU!”

Kuroo steps back grinning, putting his hands up in surrender. “What’s the problem?” He asks with fake sincerity.

“We do not utter that name in this house.” He says threateningly, pointing a gloved finger at Kuroo. “You know what you did.”

“You make a joke once and suddenly you’re enemies for life!” Kuroo defends with false hurt. He’s not sorry at all, Tooru can feel it.

“That tweet when viral!” He shouted. Kuroo laughs jubilantly. “I know it was great!”

“It certainly not great! I _still_ have people tweet at me about it!” Exasperated, he turns back to the sink to hide his pout.

“Oh my god really? That’s hilarious! And who would have guess that I get to ‘hang out’ with the real Tooru!”

“You’re so rude! Stop laughing!” Kuroo grips Tooru’s shoulder as he doubles over in laughter. Tooru pinches his lips together in a smile when he suddenly remembers Kuroo has plans for the day.

“Oi, Tetsu-chan, didn’t you have practice today at, oh I don’t know, 30 minutes ago?” Tooru turns and smirks as Kuroo snaps up straight, eyes wide.

Scrambling out of the kitchen he hears him cursing as he digs around the dorm for his practice bag. He laughs at Kuroo as he continues his chores, finishing just as Kuroo is rushing out the door, phone pressed to his ear, presumably to call his manager and apologize. He’s chuckling to himself as he goes over to empty the stainer, but the smile slides off his face at the sight of the full garbage.

“Fucker didn’t take it out.”

Frowning, Tooru swiftly gets the deed done. Reaching the dumpster outside of the building, he watches Kuroo’s car pull back into the dorms parking lot. Swinging the bag into the garbage, he dashes back up to their dorm and locks the door. This puts a smile back onto his face and washes his hands.

Kuroo pounds at the door.

“You dick! I don’t have practice till later, open up!”

Tooru goes to lean up next to their front door. “I’m sorry Tetsu-chan, my hands are really wet right now, I can’t seem to get the lock undone.”

He quietly slips his phone out and starts a video, filming the door while backing up to get it in shot.

“Yakkun laughed at me! Please let me in.” Kuroo begs.

“Don’t you have your keys?” He pans the camera to the table next to the door and in a bowl in the center lay Kuroo’s dorm keys. Stifling a laugh he pans back up.

“No, I forgot them because you tricked me!” The doorknob jiggles.

“Me? Trick you? Why would I do that?”

“I don’t know, Hanger-kun.”

“Take that back! If you apologize for being mean, I’ll let you back in.”

“Tooru please, people are staring.” He pleads. Tooru hears him muffle greetings at the other residents.

“Say it. Say ‘Tooru, I’m sorry I was ever mean to you, you don’t deserve it. I’ll never call you that horrible name ever again’ ”

A silence follows Tooru’s request, and he waits for Kuroo’s answer. After a few minutes of this continued silence, he posts the video on twitter.

 

\------------

**Prince Idol@RoyallyTooru**

‘Part one?? What happened to my roomate? **@KurooTerbium**

_(video.mov)_

\------------

 

Starting a new video, he gets closer to the door. “Tetsu-chan, did your brain fry?”

He peers into the peep hole and when he sees nothing, he shows it to the camera.

“Guys I think Tetsu-chan vanished? Opening up applications for a new-”

The living room window is thrown open making Tooru jump and spin around, pointing his camera at it, where Kuroo is currently pushing curtains out of his face as he climbs into their dorm.

“Oh my god, did you climb up here? What the hell!”

Kuroo looks at him, pointing a finger and staring hard. “I will never apologize.” And with that Kuroo shuts the window behind him, adjusts the bag on his shoulder, and winks at Tooru, suntering to his room, leaving a stunned Tooru standing by the door.

“Oh my god, that man…” He whispers and stops the video. He immediately posts the second video.

 

\------------

**Prince Idol @RoyallyTooru**

HOly shit... Finale **@KurooTerbium**

_(video.mov)_

\------------

 

The teasing wasn’t a one time thing. It happens daily, whether they mean to or not. It’s not Tooru’s fault Kuroo is unbearable. No matter what, they just couldn’t get along. They text during each others practices to get the other in trouble, switch each others laundry up, and make fun of each other on their social medias.

 

\------------

**Prince Idol @RoyallyTooru**

**@KurooTerbium** why is this your username?

 

**Valentines Event Boy@KurooTerbium**

**@RoyallyTooru** Because im rare and also Soft™

 

**Prince Idol @RoyallyTooru**

**@KurooTerbium** and you’re easy to cut with a knife

 

**Valentines Event Boy@KurooTerbium**

**@RoyallyTooru** im locking my door tonight

 

**Prince Idol @RoyallyTooru**

**@KurooTerbium** 🔪

\------------

 

 

With the boys busy schedules, they were out of the dorm most of the time, so the chores list they had made rarely got looked at, nevermind that they are teenagers. Chores are honestly the last thing on their minds.

Tooru tries to ignore the growing pile of clothes in the bathroom hamper as he gets ready for the day. They finally have a day off after working on private projects and with their backup dancers for the last week and Tooru is going to take advantage of it. Smiling at his reflection in the mirror fixing his headband one last time, he heads to the living room, rolling up his sleeves. On his way, Kuroo is exiting the kitchen, garbage bag in hand and he jumps as though startled.

“Oh, it’s just you.” He breathes out a sigh and carries on heading to the door.

Tooru scowls at his retreating figure and snatches the vacuum that is waiting for him in the living room.

“Says the boy with a rats nest for hair.” He mutters.

Cleaning doesn’t take too long with the two of them, and after a quick trip to do laundry, they relax on the couch, Tooru’s feet in Kuroo’s lap.

“Oi, get your stank feet off me.” Kuroo shoves at Tooru, but he keeps his feet planted.

“What, these feet?” Tooru smirks and shoves a foot up in Kuroo’s face. He makes a disgusted face and pushes his foot away. This time Tooru lets himself be moved and he laughs.

“You’re nasty.” Kuroo pouts.

“I’m wonderful.” Tooru counters.

“You’re annoying,” Kuroo shifts his position so he’s facing Tooru, slowly inching over to him, “and loud, you leave your clothes out all the time. You forget to turn the stove top off after you use it. You spend too long in the bathroom in the morning. You have to do everything perfectly the first time, even though there’s no way anyone can honestly expect that from you.” Tooru stares almost wide-eyed at him as he’s practically being caged in on the couch. _What is Kuroo saying?_

“You think everyone expects 100 percent out of you all the time when all we want is just you. You’re messy and careless when it comes to yourself, I’ve seen it. You’re shit at taking care of yourself, but you work really hard on your career while doing it so no one suspects a thing.” Tooru flinches when he feels something hit his forehead. “And you’re hair routine is ridiculous.”

Kuroo pulls his hand back and retreats quickly, not before slipping off Tooru’s headband and ruffling up his hair.

“Tetsu-chan you ass!” He scrunches up his face, searching around for his stolen hair piece whilst rubbing his forehead. “He didn’t have to flick me.”

He finds the beloved accessory dropped on the floor and sighs. _What the hell was Kuroo going on about? His hair is just fine._

 

\-----------------------------

 

On break during a recording session, Tooru takes out his phone and pulls up Kuroo’s contact. He knows, _why do you have his number if he’s horrible?_ Well because then he can ask for things without having to actually be around the other idol himself, duh.

To: **Tetsu-chan**

Will you do me a favor???? f(^_^;

 

From: **Tetsu-chan**

What do you want?

 

To: **Tetsu-chan**

Can you get me a large coconut hot coffee with extra cream and sugar??? 八(＾□＾*)

 

From: **Tetsu-chan**

aren't you at practice?

 

To: **Tetsu-chan**

Recording actually! I’m on break! °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°

He disappointdly slips his phone back into his pocket after not receiving any more texts from Kuroo. He finishes his oranges and sips at his water. Ugh, it's been 2 weeks since his sugar ban and he’s not doing so hot. Pouting, he watches his manager check email on his tablet. He sticks his tongue out at him. Ushijima doesn’t look up.

His phone chirps after a few minutes and, oh it’s Kuroo. _Finally._

 

From: **Tetsu-chan**

Look up

 

Furrowing his brows, he follows Kuroo’s instructions. He looks around and then, in the window of the door, is his partner. He smiles as he holds up a drink for Tooru to see, and beckons for him. Tooru can’t stop the genuine smiles that spreads across his face. His heart starts to beat faster as he gets up. He chalks it up to low sugar levels.

“Tooru where are you going?” Ushijima looks up from his tablet and stares at his client. Tooru freezes, and points to the door.

“Tetsu-chan came to visit me! I have to go say ‘hi’ at least.” He lies, which Ushijima already sees through.

“He brought you something full of sugar.” He states.

“Of course not! Tetsu-chan wouldn’t do that, we’re not even friends.” It feels a lit odd to say out loud, and he feels something relief when he remembers Kuroo can’t hear him.

Whipping open the door, he gasps as Kuroo holds out the sugar filled drink.

“Thank you so much! Hey, lets go walk, can’t let Ushibaka know I have this.” Tooru happily accepts the drink and leads Kuroo out of the building to the garden area in the back.

It's more like a small park than a garden, utilized by artists for a place of peace, and inspiration.

Now that he has natural lighting, and a good background, Tooru pulls out his phone and snaps a picture of the drink. .

 

\------------

Prince Idol @RoyallyTooru

True love! ♡(.◜ω◝.)♡

\------------

 

Tooru looks at Kuroo with a small smiles. “I didn’t expect you to actually do it.”

“You asked.” Kuroo says, casually, surprising Tooru. He laughs and rolls his eyes.

“You’re ridiculous, that’s the kind of stuff you save for your partner.” He slips his coffee, and oh. It’s just what he needs. Screw his diet.

“Well technically…” Kuroo rubs his neck, holding a hand out ,as if presenting Tooru the answer. He snorts. _Oh god_. Tooru quickly slaps a hand over his mouth, completely red faced. Kuroo says nothing about it, unlike what Tooru fears, he just laughs himself, and Tooru feels better.

Things have been weird between the two of them lately. It’s as if they aren’t enemies anymore. Maybe Tooru wasn’t Kuroo’s all along, but he certainly was Tooru’s, but now. Any grudges Tooru had held over him don’t seem like a big deal anymore. He might even be over the whole ‘Hanger Tooru’ incident.

As much as he’d like to savor his drink-and his time-he knows he can’t spend too long out of the booth with Kuroo. When they make their round back to the building, he dumps the empty cup into a near by trash can, and they walk up to the entrance. After Tooru waves Kuroo off, watching him until he disappears into the parking garage and heads back inside, his phone pings.

 

\------------

**Valentines Event Boy@KurooTerbium**

**@RoyallyTooru** you’re welcome

\------------

 

When Tooru gets back up to the booth and Ushijima asks how the treat was, he gives him another true smiles and says, “wonderful.”

 

\-----------------------------

 

No matter how much progress they seemed to be making, Tooru couldn’t let this one go. He lets himself silently fume after tripping on Kuroo’s pants in the middle of the living area floor for the fifth time this week. He presses his lips tightly together and closes his eyes, taking a deep breath in and then out. I’m not gonna get mad. I just have to remind him that the entire dorm isn’t his. Tooru opens his eyes and decides that making a cup of tea will help him relax and maybe he can attempt to come up with lyrics for their duet.

Tooru almost never has to worry about things going ary in the kitchen seeing as Kuroo usually never stepped foot in here. He allows himself to take his time looking through the teas, eventually settling on a strawberry rose. When the tea brews, he pours in some milk and reaches for the sugar. But upon opening the sugar container, there was none left, if only a few grains. Tooru nearly slams the lid-mid way remembering it’s glass- down onto the counter top and stalks off to find Kuroo.

It’s not hard to find him, since he’s usually in his room or in the living area playing games. When he reaches the door of his partner, he whips the door open. Kuroo is sitting curled up on his bed scribbling in a notebook.

“Kuroo, I know we’ve both been out this week, especially with long joint practices, but I need you to help me out! I have been very patient with you but I have had it up to here,” He raises his hand level with the top of his head, “and I am sick of it!”

Kuroo snaps the book shut, throwing it onto his pillow and stands up. “Hey you can’t just come barging in like that!”

Tooru scrunches up his nose, and balls his fists by his sides. “I can and I did. You need to start cleaning up after yourself. I’m not your maid, this isn’t a pig pen. No more pants in the living room you hear me? I know we’re teenagers and all but I’m going to need you to grow up a bit.”

“You’re not as perfect as you claim to be either, Prince.” Kuroo spits, the nickname laced with venom. “You leave your shitty DVDs in the DVD player, who does that?”

“Well at least I don’t use up all the hot water in the shower!”

“Well at least I remember to rinse out my dishes.”

“At least I’m not the one who lets their toothbrush lay out on the sink all the time.”

“Well you keep your retainers on the sink too!”

“Well-” and then Tooru stops. The two teens look at each other horrified when it clicks.

_Indirect kiss._

Tooru, the more dramatic of the two, sticks his tongue out and starts wiping at it, as if that would get Kuroo’s germs out, and Kuroo reaches for the hem of his shirt to do the same.

“Alright truce or whatever.”

“Yeah, truce.” Kuroo takes a deep breath and puts his shirt back down. “Oh, and Tooru?”

Tooru pouts at him, placing his hands on his hips.

Kuroo smirks as he walks over to him, and places a hand on his shoulder before he passes.

“Those are your pants.” He smirks and walks out of his room, leaving Tooru a sputtering mess.

“Y-You!-Ugh!!”

Kuroo laughs at him from the other room. Tooru scowls, spinning on his heels to follow Kuroo put but when he turns, Kuroo is in front of him. Still smirking, he lifts the jeans that were laying in the living room. “They’re not mine, but like a good roommate and partner, I will help you by picking them up and putting them there they belong.”

Tooru stares daggers at the back of Kuroo’s head as he watches him bring the pants to the bathroom to be put in the hamper. Okay so, maybe Tooru should have check who’s pants they were before assuming they were his partners, but still! He never used to loose his temper quite like this untill he started living with Kuroo.

Ugh, fighting was exhausting. Speaking of exhausting, they have practice together tomorrow. He was so not looking forward to that. This is the first time they had an real fight. Sure they did stuff to tease and antagonize each other, but this is the first time voices were actually raised.

_He knew this would happen eventually. He would lose it and now the event is jeopardized because he couldn’t suck it up._

He sighs rubbing his face and slowly makes his way back to the kitchen to finish his tea and relax the rest of the evening.

 

\-----------------------------

 

Tooru dreads getting out of bed. He and Kuroo hadn’t seen each other since the pants incident, and he was worried how this was going to affect their performance. His alarm rings out onces more causing him to roll his eyes and reach out to turn it off. _At least he’s always been a good actor._

He rubs his eyes as he sits up and slips on his glasses. He takes a second to listen if his partner is wake before exiting his room. After a minute of hearing nothing, he dashes for the bathroom and quickly closes the door.

He rushes through his morning routine-he’s going to get sweaty anyways from dancing later-and speedwalks to the kitchen to pack lunch and cook breakfast.

Once he finishes cooking for the both of them, he wanders back through their living space to check on Kuroo. Who is still sleeping. His alarm is ringing out and he has two pillows pressed against the sides of his head.

Tooru rolls his eyes and shuts off the alarm, rips one of the pillows out of Kuroo’s grasp and smacks him on the ass with it.

“Wake up, breakfast is ready!”

A laugh bubbles out of Tooru as Kuroo bolts up, looking around the room wildly, and gets a face full of pillow when Tooru decides to toss the stolen pillow in his face.

“I made pancakes, get up before they’re cold.”

Kuroo’s face lights up and Tooru looks at him in disgust.

“Thanks honey, you’re the best.” Kuroo makes kissy faces at him to which Tooru gags.

“Ugh, like anyone would wanna kiss that face.”

Tooru steps back as Kuroo climbs out of bed, and he quickly looks away. _Why can’t he sleep with pants on like a normal person._

“I know many people how want to kiss my face.”

Tooru looks at him pointedly. “Your mom doesn’t count Tetsu-chan~!” He teases and escapes the room as fast as he can to dodge the pillow being hurled his way. He smiles to himself as he sits down to eat. Looks like they are going to be fine.

Practice starts off great. They set the tone of the dance choosing a song to sub for the one they’ll eventually sing together, and speak with the choreographer and dancers about what they have in mind.

Things take a turn for the worst from there when Tooru accidentally goes with the old routine, while Kuroo with the new, and they crash into each other, sending them stumbing.

“What are you doing Tetsu-chan, I thought we agreed on going to the left first, slides and then to the right?” Tooru hides his embarrassment by adjusting his shirt, and rubs his sore arm. _Damn Kuroo and his pointy elbows_.

“We did, then we changed it remember? We said we were going to cross, go right and slides and then left.” He could tell that Kuroo was getting anxious with him. His voice gets a little high at the end when he gets worked up. Tooru takes a quick breath to calm himself.

“When did we decide that? We talked about it, but we didn’t say we were going to do it.”

“It was implied when I asked, ‘is it good?’ and you said ‘yes.’ ” Kuroo takes a step towards him.

Tooru stands his ground and straightens up to his full height. “Well maybe I don’t like your ideas, and I’m just trying to be nice.”

“This is you trying to be nice? No I think this is you trying to defend yourself even if you know you’re wrong.” Tooru bites his lip, watching the other carefully. Kuroo sighs and looks at him calmly.

“Let's just start again. My way this time, got it?” Now Tooru kind of feels bad. He didn’t mean to make Kuroo so upset with him. _Wait, since when did he start caring about that?_

“Yeah, let’s start again.” He could feel the eyes of their backup dancers on him and he hates it. _What’s going on in their heads. What are they thinking of him? Did one secretly have a camera out? Was he gonna get exposed for almost losing his temper?_

He feels Kuroo tap is arm. He looks at Tooru concerned. “Hey, are you okay? I said are you ready? Let’s start from the beginning yeah? Just focus on me.”

Tooru blinks a few times and nods. The music starts up and they’re back in it. He can’t lie when he thinks Kuroo’s way is better. _Damn him._ The rest of the dance goes smoothly, only stopping a few times in the middle to nit pick at some moves, and they have a near solid routine. He finds himself actually really enjoying himself at practice, smiling and even joking around with Kuroo. Not the kind of joking they did at the dorms, were they kind of mean it, but jabs meant to encourage. All the tension from earlier melted away, leaving a peaceful feeling in its wake. The dancers break for five and the idol duo sit against the wall sipping their waters.

“I think if you work on your pivots, the routine would be perfect.” Kuroo thinks out loud, causing Tooru to turn to him.

“What’s wrong with my pivots?” Tooru quirks a brow. _Usually his pivots were on point but today..._

“They’re too stiff. I was watching, in the mirror. You need to relax more.”

“How can I relax when you’re watching me.” Tooru says this almost too quietly for Kuroo to hear.

“What are you talking about?” Kuroo almost laughs. “I’m just looking out for you.”

Tooru feels his face flush as he retorts, “I don’t need you to look out for me, just pay attention to yourself.”

“Was I wrong for assuming we were starting to get along better?”

“No, I just. We were,”

“We were what? Did something happen?”

“No! I mean. Maybe? Yes, something happened and I don’t know how to handle it okay? So just leave me alone till I get work through it.”

“Is it something I can help you with? We’re partners ya’know. I wanna help where I can.”

“That! That right there!”

“What?” he asks incredulously.

“You act so, so _nice_ to me and you don’t have to!”

Tooru turns his head away and spots their managers standing in the doorway. _When had they come in? Were he and Kuroo supposed to know they were going to be watching today?_

“What, do you want me to ignore you? Pretend I don’t see you struggling?"

“No!” Tooru starts to panic, voice rising in pitch. He has no idea what’s going on and no clue how to stop this.

“Then what can I do? What’s the problem?” Kuroo almost pleading with him now.

“You’re the problem!” He shouts back, a little louder than necessary. Unfortunately they’ve already caught the attention of the managers.

“Alright boys,” Yaku-san starts to make his way over toward them, Tooru’s face flushing at being caught bickering like children. “looks like you two need to be seperated.”

Kuroo’s manager, as short as he is, towers over the pair sitting on the floor. He’s quite intimidating at this angle, looking down his nose at the idols, arms crossed. Ushijima poised behind him and hell if that isn’t terrifying.

“I know we’ve been working you to particularly hard these past few weeks, so starting today take the week off. Go rest, visit your families. When you come back, we’ll start planning the video alright?”

“Yaku-san, we’re okay, just a lit-”

“Tooru.” Ushijima’s voice reverberates in his chest. He knows this tone well. He only speaks like this to him when he over works himself to the point of almost breaking. His eyes dart up to his manager. “Go back to your dorm and pack your things. We’ll see you in a week.”

No one could argue with Ushijima so the two nod and slowly grab their bags silently.

 

\-----------------------------

 

Neither make an attempt to talk to each other on the ride back to the dorms. Tooru because he’s angry at Kuroo for making him yell and lose control and Kuroo because, well who knew what he was thinking. They don’t look at each other on the way to their own rooms. For once, their space is quiet.

Tooru sits on his bed with his head in his hands. He just couldn’t help himself. He just got so worked up near Kuroo he had to let it out. He knows he should apologize for it, but he can’t come up with a solid reason for his outburst. He would just be making up lame excuses.

 

\------------

**Prince Idol @OikawaTooru**

Managers finally are giving us a break! Finally I get some time to myself, no more smelly dorm! ଘ(੭ˊ꒳ˋ)੭✧

\------------

 

Hands shaking, he calls his mom.

“Okaa-san! Guess what?”

“Tooru! Baby, how are you? What is it?” Oikawa Aia is quick to answer, she always has been. Hearing her voice almost makes him tear up.

“We’re getting a week off of work, I-”

“You’re coming home to visit right?” His mother cuts him off. His smile is wobbly.

“Of course! I was actually wondering of I could spend my whole week home?”

“Oikawa Tooru, you never have to ask permission to come home! This is still your home, no matter how long you’ve been away or how far away you are!” By the end, him and his mother are both crying. “You come home whenever you want, you hear me?”

“Thank you Okaa-san, I’ll be home as soon as I can oaky?”

“Of course, do you need money for a train ticket?”

“No I’m okay, Ushiwaka is paying for my ticket.” Wiping his eyes, he looks around his room.

“Okay, I should probably pack, can I call you later?”

“Yes, tell him I say thank you. We’ll talk more when you get here.” He knows what she means by ‘we’ll talk more.’ Mothers instinct or whatever, she can tell when something is up, this time being no exception.

Digging a suitcase out of his closet, he quickly gathers outfits for the next week-and extra-and packs up his essentials; face scrubs, chargers, toothbrush...By the time he’s done, Kuroo is no longer in the dorm, lights off in his room and most of the other rooms as well. He goes around turning off appliances, and locks the door behind him.

The train ride to Miyagi is long, lasting a few hours, but it’s worth it to step out into the station and spot his mother so easily. She’s standing a few feet away with a grocery bag in one hand, looking so beautiful and wonderful as ever. He has to bite his lip to keep from crying on the spot, but as soon as she catches his eye, she lets tears roll down her cheeks.

Now Oikawa Aia is by no means a small women, after all, Tooru takes after her in almost all aspects, especially height and physical prowess, Tooru braces himself as she barrels into him, the bag coming up and smacking him in the back but he couldn’t care less because _he’s home._

She pulls away an caresses his cheek. “I’ve missed you so much, they got to let you come home more often.” She kisses his forehead and inks her arm in his. “I bought you some treats!” Tooru eyes the bag in her hand as she raises it for him to see.

“Thank you Okaa-san, I’m really glad to be home.”

They walk home, only being a few minutes away from the station. Just as he unlatches the gate to his house, the sound of jingling overtakes his ears and suddenly there a 40 pound Kai Ken on him, smothering his face in kisses.

“Dutchess!” Tooru is all smiles looking up at his childhood dog. The brown and black-with a little bit of white peppering her muzzle- Kai Ken happy to see her owner after almost a years absence.

“I’ll let you two get reacquainted while I take your stuff to your room.” Aia yells to Tooru who is busy wrestling with the old dog.

“Thanks Okaa-san!” He quickly shouts back.

 

\------------

**Prince Idol @OikawaTooru**

Great way to start off my break!

\------------

 

Dusting himself off as he enters his house, Dutchess trailing behind him, determined not to let him out of her sight, Tooru finds his mom in the kitchen preparing tea. He takes a moment to watch her from behind, taking in the image of her bustling about in the kitchen, just as he remembers from his younger years.

“I’m home.” he whispers, causing his mother to look back at him. “Did you stay something?”

" ‘Okaa-san...” Tears blurr his vision and suddenly, familiar warm hands are guiding his head to his mom's shoulder, arms wrapping around him. Tooru inhales a shuddering breath as he returns the hug, and _finally_ , he lets himself cry.

He lets out all the stress he’s accumulated since the whole project started. From having to keep up his appearance even when he’s in the dorms, having another person around him almost constantly. Having someone check up on him and forcing him to get some rest because they have a long day of practice the next day. The stress of catching feelings, whether they are platonic or not, and having to deal with that on a daily basis because he lives with him.

All the while, Aia doesn’t stop him once, never tells him to stop crying, or to suck it up. She just lets him get it all out, to really work through all he’s been feeling, now that he’s in a safe place to do so. Soon enough he’s left sputtering and stops crying. He pulls away with one last squeeze and straightens up to wipe his eyes, now probably very puffy. He was always an ugly crier.

“Now. What’s got my Tooru down in the dumps, huh?” She takes his hand and leads him into the kitchen and pours them both a cup of tea and hands Tooru a box of tissues.

“Honestly. I have no idea.”

“Does it have to do with work?” Tooru sighs into his mug and takes a sip.

“Kind of. There’s a lot going on right now I guess. My partner and I aren’t seeing eye to eye, so we were told to take a break from each other.” He admits.

“Well,” Aia stands up and rummages through the grocery bag she had with her at the station and pulls out a fresh loaf of milk bread. Tooru’s eyes light up as she lays it on the counter “this week will have nothing to do with him then! I’m sure your old friends from school would love to see you as well, but tonight, it’s family night! I called your sister and she’s coming over for dinner with her husband and Takeru.”

“Really?”

“Of course, as soon we hung up I called her right away!” Tooru’s face softens and he gets up to hug her. “Thank you, it means a lot.” She laughs and pats his back.

“I figured you needed to be surrounded by your family for a while.” Tooru pulls back and shrugs, smiling.

“You’re not wrong.”

“When am I ever?”

Dinner with his family is loud,everyone talking over each other, food being passed in front of him contently, Dutchess hopping up to steal Takerus food. Its crazy, full of people and just what Tooru needs.

“So little brother, how’s star life?” Masae asks even though his mom is gesturing her to stop.

“It’s fine Okaa-san. It’s really fun, a lot of hard work as usual. Ushiwaka is still annoying as ever.”

“Of course, of course. I-”

Takeru cuts her off before she can speak again. “Is it true you’re working with Kuroo Tetsurou?”

All eyes land on the child who looks at everyone confused. “What?”

Tooru coughs, getting everyone’s attention. He smiles and leans on the table towards his nephew. “It is true.”

“That’s so cool.” an awed Takeru whispers. “He’s so cool.”

Tooru shrugs, taking a bite of his dinner. “He’s alright.”

Unfortunately his sister catches his eyes and a grin stretches across her face. “Just alright? You’re rooming with a very handsome man and he’s ‘alright’?”

“You haven’t heard him snore.” He lies, causing everyone to burst out into laughter. Then Takeru’s accusing his dad of snoring so loudly the house shakes.

“Takeru that’s not true, don’t lie!”

“Anyways,” Tooru butts in, steering the conversation once more, “Nee-san, how’s the magazine business?”

His sister perks up at the opportunity to brag about her company and goes off for the rest of the meal.

“Takeru, Nee-san said you brought game with you, wanna play with me?” Tooru asks after getting kicked out of the kitchen by his mother. “Go have fun playing with your nephew, I’ll do the chores tonight.”

“Yeah! I brought my Wii system!” Tooru blanches. Takeru is ruthless when it comes to the Wii. No one can beat him, not even in Wii Sports.

After several rounds of losing, Takeru finally starts to wear down and falls asleep the couch on his dad’s lap, as Tooru and Masae packs up the system.

“I swear he knows every trick there is.” Tooru whispers, not for the first time of the night.

“He plays it contently with his friends. I think they have a bet going on who can beat him.” she says, holding her sons backpack open for Tooru to slip the game in.

“That’s one bet they’ll never win.” Zipping up the bag, Masae carefully slings the bag onto her shoulders and Renzo stands up holding onto is son. Aia and Tooru walk their family to the door and Takeru stirs.

“Are we leaving?” He lifts his head from his fathers chest and rubs his eyes. Masae smiles and smooths down his hair.

“Yes, say goodbye to your uncle.” Takeru wiggles downs and hugs Tooru.

“Bye Tooru, I’ll come over again okay? Baba said you’re here all week.”

“I am! You can come over as much as Masae lets you.” Tooru gives him one final hug and sees his sisters family out.

“Alright, off to bed with you.” Aia shoo’s Tooru off towards the stairs.

“Okaa-san, I’m not tired yet.” He whines. He is pretty sleepy but he’s not gonna actually tell her.

“Oh don’t give me that, I know you. As soon as you lay down you’ll be out like a light.” She kisses his head and shoos him off once more. “Goodnight Tooru, I love you.”

“ G‘Night. Love you too.”

When he reaches the top of the stairs, his mother calls out to him again.

“I’m glad you’re home.” She says. He smiles and turns to her.

“Me too.”

 

\-----------------------------

 

“Tooru?”Aia calls from inside the kitchen. Tooru pops his head into the doorway, Dutchess following him and begging for him to keep playing Tug-of-War with her.

“Yes Okaa-san?” Aia turns around, all smiles as she shows off two bento boxes. “Why don’t you and Hajime go have a little picnic at the park? You can take Dutchess with you too, I know she’d really enjoy it.”

“That’s a great idea, thank you!” He goes to kiss her cheek and pulls out his phone to text his best friend.

 

To: **Iwa-chan(・`ω´・)**

Hey remember how I said I’ll be in town for the next week?

 

From: **Iwa-chan(・`ω´・)**

Yeah?

 

From: **Iwa-chan(・`ω´・)**

Wait are you really here?

 

To: **Iwa-chan(・`ω´・)**

Yep! And we’re going to have a picnic right now at the park near our houses! Where are you, I’ll come pick you up!

 

Tooru herds Dutchess into the backseat, rolling down the window for her and drives his moms car out to the rec center where Iwaizumi volunteers for the mornings. He has a few minutes till Iwaizumi comes out so he gets out of the car, leaning against the car, enjoying the warm Saturday air, Dutchess’s head hanging out the back window.

While he’s basking in the sun, he hears a voice he’s known almost all his life.

“I can’t believe you’re actually here, I missed you man.” Iwaizumi says shaking his head as he approaches the car. Tooru straightens up and meets him halfway.

“Aww, has my Iwa-chan gotten soft?” He teases and holds out a fist.

“I was gonna hug you but now I wanna hit you instead.” Iwaizumi retorts, face hardening. Tooru blanches. “You can’t hit me! I need my face to stay beautiful!”

“ ‘Stay’ he says.” Iwaizumi mocks. Tooru fakes hurt and pouts. “Oh come here you baby.”

Tooru accepts the hug, taking in the warmth of his closest friend and pats his back. They pull away and pile into the car, Iwaizumi adjusting the seat forward as always.

“So, how’s it goin-Oof hey girl.” Dutchess shoves her head into Iwaizumi’s face, cutting him off so he would greet her.

“Dutchess sit,” Tooru commands. “It’s been alright. How’s the rec?”

Tooru sneaks a glance at Iwauizmi, a huge smile spreads across his face. “It’s great. The kids a quite the hard workers, boundless energy.”

“Man, sounds like I’d hate them.” Tooru jokes.

“Yeah says the guy who’s drop everything for his nephew.” Iwaizumi lightly punches Tooru’s arm, to which Tooru shouts, “Hey! No hitting the driver!”

 

\-----------------------------

 

They lay out a blanket under a tree to sit on, Dutchess already running around playing with the other dogs at the park.

“So.” Tooru raises his brow at his friend. “Huh?” Iwaizumi inclines his head, reaching for a bento.

“Whats up?” Tooru looks up, exasperated. “Okaa-san called didn’t she?”

“Of course she did. I would’ve figured it out even if Auntie didn’t tip me off.”

Tooru sighs and smiles slightly at Iwaizumi. “I can’t hide anything from you two can I?”

He takes a second to eat before he starts. “It’s about my partner for the upcoming Valentines event.”

“Kuroo Tetsurou, right?” Iwaizumi asks around a mouthful of rice.

“Ugh don’t be a brute,” Tooru rolls his eyes,” and yes, _him_.”

“That tone huh? I’m guessing this is about that then.” Iwaizumi raises a brow.

“I guess. I’m having issues with him. One minute we’re teasing each other, then we’re getting along really well and then just like that he goes and does something that pisses me off and I just lose it!”

“Tell me about it? It’s obviously more than you’re letting on.” his friend offers.

Tooru chews his lip contemplating. _Did he really want to spill all of this right now? Well, this is his best friend._ Sighing, he nods, and let’s go.

He tells of all the shared rehearsal and dorms. How Kuroo is always in Tooru’s way, no matter where they are. The constant competitive air around them, making Tooru feel like he can’t let anything slip in fear of Kuroo holding it over him. How in his space Kuroo always is, and how on and off they have been lately.

By the time he’s done recalling the month with Kuroo, their food is all gone and Dutchess now lays half on Tooru’s lap, who he pets idly.

“Wow, sounds like you hate the guy.” Tooru’s hand shoots out.

“I do!”

“Why?” Iwaizumi gives him a strange look. It’s one Tooru doesn’t see often, only when he’s being air-headed about things right in front of him. _What could he mean this time?_

“What?” Iwaizumi’s eyes flick up before going back to Tooru. “Why do you hate him?” He elaborates.

“I don’t know! I just do? He teases me, he says confusing shit all the time. I can’t tell when he’s joking half the time. He makes nice gestures lately, but it pisses me off for some reason! He messes with me constantly, but he always seems to know when enough is enough? Why would he stop, there’s no reason to if he doesn’t like me. He makes fun of my hair even though his is horrible! It’s just bed head! I bet you didn’t know that! Do you know what it’s like to wake up with good hair like that because I certainly don’t! It’s annoying because lately I’ve been finding that I actually think it’s cute so I’ve just been trying to avoid looking at it the last week and it’s so hard Iwa-chan. I wanna run my fingers through his hair but at the same time I wanna pull it out because he drives me up the wall.

“He’s so sweet to me sometimes, he brings me things when I ask, even when I’ve been bratty, and it does something to me. He makes me smile. Like really smile. I enjoy being around him, he’s really a nice person. He looks out for me, even when I might not want it. I’m so snappy with him now because I don’t know what how to deal with all of this. We weren’t like this at the beginning and I’m at a loss. He makes me feel like I’m losing my mind and I can’t stand it. Why can’t he just hate me back and leave me alone?”

Iwaizumi takes a few moments to digest the rant before speaking up. “You like him.” Tooru’s eyes bulge as he laughs wildly. Iwaizumi scowls. “I’m not joking. Up until recently, you’ve viewed him as public enemy number one or whatever, but since spending so much time with him, you actually really like him and you don’t know how to handle that.”

“I don’t think I-”

“Like him like that?” Iwaizumi finishes for him. “Yes. Yes you do. It’s in the way you describe him. Your eyes tell a lot more than your words.”

Tooru huffs. “Since when did you learn all this mumbo jumbo?”

Iwaizumi leans over and flicks him in the head. “It’s not rocket science Idiotkawa.”

Tooru lets out an annoyed shout and cradles his head, hiding it away. “What is with people and flicking my poor head?”

“Must be a you thing.” Iwaizumi laughs at him.

He pouts a bit, uncovering himself and thinks for a moment. “You really think that’s what it could be?”

“Obviously. But I don’t know your feelings. It’s just my view on it.” Iwaizumi shrugs.

“You...might be right. I don’t know. I haven’t put much thought into it. I didn’t want to deal with it.” Tooru confesses. _God could that really be what he’s been feeling this whole time?_

“Yeah that’s what I was thinking. Now, I was promised some a game of fetch with Dutchess?”

 

\-----------------------------

 

Tooru’s talk with Iwaizumi stayed with him all through his vacation. It crept up on him when he was least expecting. His thoughts were full of Kuroo, even though the other idol was nowhere near him. Figuring it wouldn’t hurt to peak over at his social media, he checks up on his partner. Kuroo recent tweets are all aesthetic pictures of books and notes because he’s actually a nerd.

 

\------------

**Valentines Event Boy@KurooTerbium**

Catching up on some long overdue reads.

 

\------------

 

 _Well looks like Kuroo isn’t having much fun without Tooru. Good._ He sighs, _he’s probably having more fun with that book than he would be with Tooru. Maybe he really does have a shitty personality? Hopefully if he did have feelings for Kuroo, he would be shallow enough to date Tooru for his looks._ Tooru shakes his head and slaps his face a few times. _No, he can’t think like that. Kuroo must like him for his personality if he’s able to stick around as long as he did._

Tooru’s mom pokes her head into his room with a small smile, breaking him out of his spiraling thoughts. “What are you up to?”

“Stalking.” Aia seems to be taken aback by the answer but laughs nonetheless.

“Well if you’re able to walk away for a bit, wanna help me bake some cookies?” She walks in all the way, showing off her pink apron and holding up a matching teal one. Tooru gives her a helpless look.

“You’re gonna fatten me up before I leave and I’m gonna get in trouble.”

“Diets are unhealthy,” She tosses the apron at her son and walks away. “let yourself be happy!”

_Let yourself be happy._

 

\-----------------------------

 

There’s only two days left of the idols forced break, and Tooru is restless. He enjoyed his break, really, it’s just what he needed but the week felt oddly...empty. There was no one always teasing him, or making a remark over almost everything he did, biting or not. No one to annoy and find true enjoyment from it. He hadn’t realized it but, now that he escaped his family after dinner, he can finally put a name to the feeling. He misses Kuroo, as much as he would like to deny, as easy as it would be. He was so used to him there all the time it feels wrong to be away from him for so long, even if it had only been a few days.

After fighting with himself for a few minutes, he whips out his phone and pulls up Kuroo’s number. Wow he’s really doing this huh? He types, erases, retypes, erases once more and just settles for;

 

To: **Tetsu-chan**

Hey

 

Wow, nice Tooru. Very suspicious.

 

From: **Tetsu-chan**

What a pleasant surprise ∠( ᐛ 」∠)＿

 

To: **Tetsu-chan**

I know, you must be in awe to receive a text from me, the Grand King, on our well deserved break.

 

From: **Tetsu-chan**

Cut the shit. What’s wrong?

 

To: **Tetsu-chan**

What? What do you mean? Can’t I text my partner out of the blue every now and again?

 

From: **Tetsu-chan**

No, because the only times you’ve ever texted me are to fetch you things and when things aren’t going to good. Also you’re not using those kaomojis so..

 

To: **Tetsu-chan**

( : ౦ ‸ ౦ : )

 

From: **Tetsu-chan**

Ha ha. Seriously what’s up?

 

To: **Tetsu-chan**

Nothing gets past you, does it Tetsu-chan? Fine. I miss you, is that what you wanted?

 

From: **Tetsu-chan**

It’s not what I was expecting but I’ll take it.

 

To: **Tetsu-chan**

What do you mean you’ll ‘take it’?

 

From: **Tetsu-chan**

It means I wanna see you. To: Tetsu-chan Wait really?

 

From: Tetsu-chan

Yeah where are you right now? Are you free tomorrow?

 

To: **Tetsu-chan**

I’m up in Miyagi. I was just gonna hang out around my house.

 

From: **Tetsu-chan** Cool, take a train up to Tokyo. Ma wants me to grab some stuff at the market and you should come with me. I’ll take you out afterwards.

 

To: **Tetsu-chan**

By the time I get there, the market will be closed.

 

From: **Tetsu-chan**

Yeah so come tonight then. We’ll go together in the morning.

 

To: **Tetsu-chan**

What?

 

From: **Tetsu-chan**

Come tonight. I’ll go out and grab snacks and shit. We’ll make a night of it. I’ll pick you up at the station okay? Lemme know when you leave ( * ́꒳`*)੭

 

Tooru bites his lip, wanting to get angry at Kuroo for dominating the conversation, but he can’t find it in himself to feel so. In some sort of weird way, it’s nice. To have the reigns gently taken from his hands and be lead for a change. Smiling to himself, he seeks out his mother to alert her of the sudden change of plans.

 

\-----------------------------

 

Leaving his mom at the station is just as hard as it was all the other times he left. In the beginning she’s all he had, aside from his few friends. Swallowing tears, he waves to her as he boards and quickly finds a seat next to a kind looking older woman.

They nod to each other, pleasant smiles in place-Tooru’s hidden by his mask-before Tooru slips out his phone.

 

To: **Tetsu-chan**

Since being on a train for the next two hours is your fault, keep me entertained! s(・｀ヘ´・;)ゞ

 

A few minutes pass until he gets a message from Kuroo. Probably picking up those snacks he was promised. He should make sure he gets the good stuff.

 

From: **Tetsu-chan**

Holy shit youre really coming?

 

To: **Tetsu-chan**

You told me to, I cant just say ‘no.’

 

From: **Tetsu-chan**

Youve never had a hard time with it before, what changed? <(￣︶￣)>

 

To: **Tetsu-chan**

I thought we agreed we missed each other (；￢＿￢)

 

To: **Tetsu-chan**

Anyways tell me about your break

 

From: **Tetsu-chan**

No you said you missed me. I said I want to see you. Completely different.

 

Tooru rolls his eyes, a faint smile on his lips

 

From: **Tetsu-chan**

But, to answer your question uuhhhhhh a whole lot of nothing. I spent some time with my best friend, Kenma. Got my ass kicked at video games almost all week. Ate a bunch of junk food because Nyakkun isn’t here to yell at me

 

Tooru quickly slaps a hand over his mouth before he can snort out loud.

 

From: **Tetsu-chan**

*Yakkun, sorry autocorrect.

 

To: **Tetsu-chan**

NYAKKUN?? PLEASE TELL ME YOU USE THAT IRL I ALMOST SNORTED AND THE LADY NEXT TO ME GAVE ME A LOOK

 

From: **Tetsu-chan**

Never to his face!!! God don’t say that around him, he’ll know you heard it from me and he’ll kick my ass. Literally. There’s this younger kid at our agency that always gets beat up by Yaku. He’s a terrifying little man. ｡｡(ﾉ´д)ﾉ

 

To: **Tetsu-chan**

Does he really beat you? He looked so nice!

 

From: **Tetsu-chan**

Thats how he gets ya. But yeah he literally kicks our asses. Hes got a mean back kick.

 

To: **Tetsu-chan**

Oof, yikes. I think I’m just gonna nap for a bit. I’ll see you soon

 

From: **Tetsu-chan**

Dream of me (✿ꈍ。 ꈍ✿)

 

Tooru can’t help the blush that creeps over his face and leans his head back to rest a little.

 

\-----------------------------

 

Tooru is gently nudged awake by the older woman he sat next to on the train.

“Excuse me, the train will be at the station soon, I don’t know what stop you’re getting off on, I didn’t want you to miss just in case.” The woman smiles sweetly at him, a little apprehensive. His heart swells at her words. Bless old people.

“Oh thank you so much, I’m the next station over I believe.”

The woman bows to him getting up, and exits with the other passengers and Tooru glances at his watch. Only about 30 more minutes until he’s meeting up with Kuroo again. He looks out the window, letting his mind wander.

 _What would it be like seeing him again after the vacation? Would he still feel what he felt during their stay together? Or will this break will be all for not and Tooru ends up yelling at Kuroo again?_ He sighs, adjusting his face mask and texts Kuroo to let him know he’ll be arriving soon.

 

From: **Tetsu-chan**

I will be there ヾ(´▽｀*)ﾉ☆

 

Tooru huffs a breath out of his nose, smiling.

When the train halts at the next station, and he files out with the other riders and spots Kuroo standing against the wall, texting with one hand, other resting in his pocket, a plastic bag hanging from his wrist, Tooru’s heart immediately flip flops. _Okay maybe Iwa-chan knew what he was talking about._

He stops and stares for a little while, a few feet away, and then someone bumps into him, causing him to come out of his stupor. Exchanging apologies, Tooru continues towards Kuroo. Upon approaching, he realizes that the other isn’t in the least bit trying to hide his identity.

“You could at least hide that hair of yours.” He says, saddling up next to Kuroo, bumping shoulders with him playfully. He watches Kuroo’s face light up and faces him to give him a half hug. He almost stops breathing when he notices how strong Kuroo really is. _Fucking swoon._

“Hey you made it! And I don’t have to hide, I grew up here! You on the other hand, look like a nerd with your mask and glasses.”

Tooru tucks his mask under his chin to stick his tongue out at the other.

“Do not.”

“Real mature,” he smiles, “ Come on, this way.” Kuroo leads Tooru out of the station and up to the streets.

“I think I figured out why you wanted to see me.”

Kuroo looks at him and raises a brow. “Oh yeah?” Tooru nods.

“You needed someone to pick on.” Tooru squawks as Kuroo reaches over and ruffles his hair.

“Hey! There’s a reason I didn’t wear a hat!”

Passerbys turn and look at him when he speaks and he ducks his head down, trying to fix his hair. He feels a warm hand on his shoulder and Kuroo says quietly. “Sorry” and helps him rearrange his hair. Tooru has to make the physical effort not to stop walking, feeling Kuroo’s hand on his head.

“I-It’s fine.” Man this guy is gonna give him a heart attack. He looks off to the side after shooing Kuroo away, saying his hair is fine now, and hopes he can’t see his reddened face. _Has Kuroo always been like this with him?_

They walk in silence for a while before Tooru blurts, “You ask me to come all this way and you have nothing to say to me?"

“Damnit Tooru I thought we were having a comfortable silence goin’ on.” Kuroo complains jokingly. “Is there something specific you’d like me to talk to you about?” He leans into Tooru’s space with a grin. Tooru laughs nervously and gently shoves Kuroo’s face away.

“Yes actually,” he crosses his arms and glares at the other playfully, “what do you have planned for us tonight, since you so spontaneously spirited me away?”

Kuroo barks out a laugh and shit if he’s not attractive when he smiles. “When you say it like that it sounds like you weren’t a willing participant.” Tooru sputters.

“Perhaps I wasn’t.” He says offhandedly and oops that was the wrong thing to say because now Kuroo looks at a loss. Tooru’s face softens and lightly punches his arm. “I was kidding. If I didn’t want to see you, I wouldn’t have even texted you.”

Tooru watches a small smile form on Kuroo’s lips and he whispers, “oh cool.”

Shaking his head and smiling, Tooru teases, “ ‘cool’ he says. Aren’t you supposed to be Mr. Suave Idol?”

Kuroo cringes, setting Tooru into a fit of giggles, holding his stomach. “Why does everyone think that? I’m not even cool! If I was so suave, I-whoa!” Tooru gets bumped particularly hard by someone walking his way and he in turn bumps into Kuroo. Quickly Kuroo’s hands shoot out and right him, leaving Tooru almost dazed.

“I swear Tokyo isn’t always like this, here,” Kuroo takes his hand and speed walks with him the rest of the way out of the city area and to the developments where the residents live. “Sorry to be a bit rough country boy, this is a fast paced environment.” Kuroo calls back to him but he barely hears him over his own thoughts of _Kuroo’s hands are so warm._

Kuroo finally slows down and if it weren’t for his vigorous workout and training regimens, Tooru would be very tired out. Kuroo smiles at him apologetically and squeezes his hand. Then he seems to realize they’re still holding hands because he drops Tooru’s hand and holds his hands up.

“Ah, sorry, I-”

“Damn at least buy me dinner first.” Tooru cuts him off. It takes a second for Kuroo to laugh and he holds up the plastic bag he had with him the whole time. “I actually bought snacks, does that still count?” Tooru pretends to think this over hard, and tries to peer into the bag.

“Depends.” He says.

“On what?” Kuroo asks wearily.

“What you bought, duh.” Tooru states as if it’s obvious.

“Oh!” Kuroo digs around in the bag pulling out a few snacks to show off. “I got sour gummy worms, gummy bears, shrimp chips, the usual junk.”

“You really know how to dine’em.” Tooru fans himself, pretending to be swooned.

Kuroo playfully nudges him with his shoulder. “Only the best for you.”

“Oh Tetsu-chan!” He moves his hand to his head, leaning into the other.

The two are a pair of giggling idiots by the time they reach Kuroo’s family home. Slipping off their shoes and lining them along the wall with one other pair, they shuffle slippers on and head to the kitchen.

“Okay drinks first.” Kuroo spreads his arms out, showing off the kitchen. “I don’t have any fancy coffee or whatever you like to drink, but my mom’s got this Keurig thing, and we have hot chocolate pod things for it, so.” He explains, fake smug.

“I’d never say no to hot chocolate.”

“While we wait for the machine to warm up, would you like a tour?” Kuroo gestures with a thumb to the rest of the house. Tooru smiles. “I would love one.”

Kuroo waves Tooru over to follow him, and they spend a few minutes walking around the house, letting Tooru get familiar. There are so many pictures. Framed photos of reunions, childhood snapshots, friends and accomplishments lined the walls as they walked. They near at the end of the hall and Kuroo stops them.

“Ah, this is my parents room here, only my mom is here right now. Dad’s off at the hospital.”

This catches Tooru off guard before Kuroo interrupts hurriedly. “He’s a doctor! Sorry, that gets people all the time.”

“Maybe you should lead with that!”

“I never think about it unt-”

“Tetsurou is that you?” A womans voice calls out, presumably Kuroo’s mother.

“Yeah it’s me,” he says opening the door. “sorry I was just showing Tooru around.”

Kuroo’s mother looks almost exactly like Kuroo himself, lounging in her bed, hair as wild and dark as her sons. He’s stunned for a moment, if he wasn’t just talk this is his mother he would’ve mistaken her for his sister. He says just that.

“Quit hitting on my mom!” Kuroo yells embarrassed, while Kuroo’s mother laughs loudly, hand on her heart.

“What a charmer you are,” she turns her attention to Kuroo, “this is him yeah?”

“Yeah, ‘Kaa-san this is Oikawa Tooru, Tooru, this is Kuroo Hiromi, my mom.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Kuroo-san.” Tooru bows politely and gives her a warm smile. He can’t help but feel a bit weird, meeting his mother like this. It all feels like a very couples way of being introduced.

“Oh Tooru-kun I’ve heard a lot of things about you, you can call me Hiromi-san”

His face heats up. “You have?” He peaks a glance at Kuroo surprised. “All good things I’m sure?”

“All good things indeed.” Hiromi-san replies.

“Okay that’s enough ‘Kaa-san, I think Tooru is probably really hungry from his trip over, I’ll see you later!”

Tooru lets himself be pushed out of Kuroo’s parents room and led back to the kitchen. Tooru gets himself comfortable on a stool at the island while he watches Kuroo struggle with something to say.

“Sorry about that, she’s always weird like that around my friends.”

Tooru digs into the snack bag and breaks into the sour gummy worms. “Well I thought she was lovely, and I’m your only friend aside from Kenma."

“Of course you did, we look exactly alike. Hey!” Tooru snickers and throws a worm at kuroo who catches it in his hand. “I give you food, I give you shelter, and this is the thanks I get?” Kuroo throws the gummy back at Tooru, which lands in his hair, and finishes up the drinks.

“Careful it’s gonna be hot.”

“That’s what my doctor said when I was born.” Tooru fishes the worm out of his hair and throws it away.

Kuroo lets out a gnarled sounding laugh and almost spills his drink.

“Careful.” Tooru reminds with a smile.

The two head up to Kuroo’s room, drinks and snacks in tow. They pick out a few video games to play and Tooru is once again reminded how much he enjoys being around Kuroo. He’s losing so bad at the combat game the other chose, and when losing normally would make him a bit competitive, he finds himself just having fun. There's no competition here, just two friends enjoying each others company. He’s letting himself revel in this feeling because now he understands.

_He likes Kuroo._

He guesses he should’ve known all along, with how attractive he initially found the other and how he thought the little things about him were kind of endearing. Well, it’s hard to know what he’s feeling if he’s never felt it before. So he takes in the closeness between them and the atmosphere. He lets loose, letting go of his carefully constructed idol persona and gets loud, cracks more jokes that would normally would make him look foolish. But here, with Kuroo, he doesn’t care anymore because he wants Kuroo to see him as a human, not some perfect model he tries so hard to be.

Eventually they switch to movies, Tooru making fun of Kuroo’s collection all the while. They bicker, throw snacks at each other and someone may or may not have been smothered with a pillow for a short bit. By the time they finish their second movie, Kuroo has his legs in Tooru’s lap. Back at the dorms, Tooru would have not let him stay where he is for very long, getting flustered and would just made the other move. He likes the change. He thinks Kuroo senses his change as well, because he’s not so quick to pull away from a joke, not so careful anymore. A break really was what they needed. Who knew stupid Ushiwaka knew what to do.

There’s a knock on the door and a short man with neat light brown hair steps in.

“Tetsurou your mom said you have company over, so I swung by the store and picked out some pizza rolls for you both, they’re in the freezer.”

Tooru straightens up, smiling, and Kuroo swings his legs off of him.

“Thank you! Welcome home, this is Oikawa Tooru.” Tooru quickly stands up and bows to the man.

“Oh hello Tooru-kun, Hiromi did mention our guest being special. I’m Jomei, I’ll leave you two be now.”

As soon as Jomei leaves, Tooru looks at Kuroo confused.

“Who was that?”

“What do you mean ‘who was that?’ that’s my dad.” He says as if obvious.

“He looks nothing like you, are you sure that’s not like your brother or something?”

Kuroo rubs his neck. “Yeah, no we get that a lot. He’s my real dad I promise. I just look more like my Ma.”

“Could of fooled me. So I heard there was pizza rolls?”

The boys grin at each other and break for the kitchen for more food. They split up the tasks, Tooru preheating the oven and while Kuroo finds a pan and gets out plates. Tooru deadpans at him.

“Kuroo. We’re probably just going to eat them all off the pan.”

Nodding Kuroo puts the plates back. “You’re right, you’re right.”

They sit in a comfortable-both of them this time-silence at the island and Tooru secretly sneaks glances at Kuroo. He is fiddling with his phone and tooru couldn't help but admire him. The gentle curve of his nose, his long dark eyelashes, the almost permanent curl of his lips. How could he have not seen this before. His heart is beating wildly in his chest but keeps his face neutral so Kuroo doesn’t suspect anything. He quickly looks away before Kuroo looks up at him, but he’s too slow.

“What’s up?” He asks curiously. Tooru looks over at him, one brow raised.

“Hm? What do you mean?” He plays it off, but Kuroo looks at him knowingly.

“You were looking at me, I saw. And I could feel it.”

“What do you mean you can feel it?” Tooru jokes.

“Don’t deflect my question mister.” Damn Kuroo and knowing Tooru’s tricks.

“Nothing’s up, just looking.” he says honestly, hoping to make it sound more flirty and fun than how he meant it. Kuroo lets out a small laugh and winks. “You like what you see?”

Tooru leans on the table and rests his chin in his hand. “Yeah.”

Kuroo looks down and shakes his head. “I can’t even tell if you’re joking or not, but I don’t really mind.”

Tooru watches kuroo stand up and ready their food. The oven beeps and Kuroo slides the pan in.

“I mean I wouldn’t lie about it. You’re an idol for one reason for another.” Tooru shrugs flippantly.

“Wow rude,” Kuroo hand rests at his heart as he sits back down. “and it’s not because of my beautiful singing voice?”

Tooru gives him an apologetic look and reaches across the island to place a hand on Kuroo’s shoulder.

“We can’t be good at everything.”

Kuroo looks at him shocked and smacks his hand away. “You ass!”

Tooru yanks his hand back, cackling. “I’m sorry!”

Kuroo squints at him. “You’re not.” Tooru agrees.

They smile at each other before breaking out into laughter. With cheeks flushed and mouths sore, happiness rings out in the house. I don’t want this night to end. He listens to Kuroo talk about his childhood, pointing to a photo hanging above the sink, and Tooru just listens. Drinking in Kuroo’s words, not once trying to interrupt. Kuroo stops after a while, most likely noticing Tooru’s rapt attention on him.

“Okay seriously, what’s up? I told a whole story and you didn’t tease me or anything. Are you sick?” Kuroo huffs a light breath. _Maybe_ , Tooru thinks. _I can’t just tell him the truth._

“What’s wrong with being a good listener?” He asks sweetly. If he confesses now, he might as well kiss this partnership goodbye while he’s at it.

“Well, nothing, except that it’s you.” When Tooru looks at him offended, Kuroo panics. “I mean! You always have something to say! I don’t mind, I was just worried.”

“Would it be horrible if I said I just like your voice?” Tooru looks away, scratching the back of his head. _God was he really saying this?_

“No,” He hears Kuroo answer, “because then I can say I like yours better.”

Tooru keeps his face turned the other way, listening to his partner shuffle and now his voice sounds farther away.

“Ya’know.” He starts, “this break was supposed to be so we could get away from each other, but I couldn’t get you out of my head the whole time.”

He freezes, heart pounding wildly. “What?” he asks breathlessly. Slowly he looks at Kuroo, but the other is standing at the counter turned around, looking out the window.

“It’s kinda funny actually. All week I found myself turning to say something to you, but you weren’t there. I got so used to you, it feels so weird to be away so suddenly. Like you’re meant to be by my side.” He braces his hands on the counters edge.

For once in his life, Tooru is speechless. _Had he heard right?_ He sits silently, watching Kuroo closely, who now turned to face him, face the same bright red as his own.

“I’m sorry it might be weird for me to spill all this on you, especially since you don’t really have a quick get away, but I finally have you with me again I couldn’t let this go.” He hides his face in one hand awkwardly. “Oh god I regret even opening my mouth. If you would just ignore me and forget I said that, that would be awesome, and you could go back to pretending to be my friend.”

Tooru doesn't hesitate when he says, “One, who said I was pretending to be your friend. And two...what if I don’t to?” His heart beats loud in his ears as Kuroo stills, looking up at him, face slack.

“What _if_ you don’t want to?” He asks back. Tooru bites his lip and stands up fiddling with his fingers in front of him.

“Then I’d say that I feel the same way. Probably have this whole time. It just took me a while to realize it.” He takes a step closer. “I’d also say that the things you do and the things you say drive me crazy and I can’t get enough of it.” Another step. “That I thought I hated you at first but it turns out, I just had a real big crush on you. That when you smile at me all I want to do is kiss you because how can anyone look so cute all the time. Seriously, when you wake up in the morning? My heart melts looking at you.”

Tooru realizes how how close he’s gotten while, well monologuing, and stops, completely embarrassed.

“Well...fuck.” Kuroo whispers. Tooru is almost panting by how fast his heart is beating. _God he’s shaking so much._

Tooru looks down at where Kuroo is lacing their hands together. A wide smile finds it way to Tooru’s face and he raises his head to look Kuroo in the eyes. He’s looking at him with a soft smile, and he presses their foreheads together.

“Looks like I really am Mr. Suave.” Kuroo says softly.

“Shut the fuck up.”


End file.
